Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre Reconfiguration
Creating a space to support Birmingham’s mental health services
As part of an ongoing review of Forward Thinking Birmingham’s (FTB) facilities, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust knew that their East Birmingham Hub, the Blakesley Centre, was not fit for purpose. Housed in a converted nurses home built in the 1930s, the building didn’t offer the right environment to meet the needs of young people with mental health issues.
Once the decision was made to relocate the delivery of care from Blakesley Centre to the much-improved environment of Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre, the trust commissioned Prime’s BaS LIFT partnership to reconfigure the first floor of the building, including clinical rooms previously used by healthcare providers.
Forward Thinking Birmingham offers care pathways of mental health assessment and treatment for young people up to 25 years old. Hence, the design required careful consultation to ensure patients could be treated in a community facility. For example, if a young person becomes distressed in the waiting area, everyone around that patient can be moved to an alternative area, reducing the stress for that patient. FTB clinicians were key to developing the specifications for their rooms and supported the design of the patient pathway. They undertook risk assessments and specified materials, fixtures and fittings.
Sustainable technologies were used as part of the fit-out, including smart LED lighting with presence/absence detection and automatic daylight dimming according to external daylight conditions. The latest air source heat pump technology was used to provide comfortable heating and cooling to the new consultation room.
The added value Prime and BaS LIFT provided shows just what can be achieved when working in partnership with multiple stakeholders. Refurbishment projects can prove tricky, with patients and staff coming and going on an operational site, but the contractor carried out the most disruptive aspects of construction outside of operational hours. The end result is a modern new environment that will make a huge difference to staff and patients alike.
Partnership working
Collaboration was vital to the project’s evolution, as was the need to provide a clear line of communication between stakeholders. These included FTB, the landlord, investor, senior debt funder, head tenant, Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospitals NHS FT and Integral, who were responsible for the Hard Facilities Management services at Washwood Heath. This ensured that all the experts in their fields contributed to the success of the project.RELATED ITEMS:
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Size: 3920sqm -
Completed: March 2024 -
Partners: Community Health Partnerships